It's Simple
by jamiev
Summary: The inevitable breakup that Meriwether continuously threatens us with and the story that follows.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: You can sue me, and take everything I have, which is nothing. See ya in court!**

**AN: So I haven't written in awhile, I get way too inside my own head when I put it down on paper. Sorry this one's so short, next chapter will be longer. **

Nick rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he glanced at his alarm on the stand. 3:25am, the bright green light shone into the darkness, and Nick groggily wondered what had roused him. His hand moved to the bed beside him as he wrapped his arm around his petite girlfriend's waist, pulling her closer to him as she slept. As he settled back into his slumber a noise from the front of the loft brought his eyes back open, and Nick realized that this must have been what had awoken him. As he slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed he heard the noise echo through the hallway towards his door again, and he scrunched his brow in grogginess and confusion as he arose to investigate. As he came out into the hall, glancing back quickly at the face of his girlfriend to check that she was still asleep, he quickly realized that the noise was the sound of someone struggling on the other side of the front door. He sighed softly to himself as he realized that there was only one person it could possibly be as he knew Coach was fast asleep and Winston was on duty.

"Jess," Nick said, opening the door on a clearly intoxicated Jessica Day. "What are you doing?"

Jessica had been struggling to hold herself up while trying to get her key into the hole of her front door. She was failing. There was clearly something wrong with her key as she battled with the lock on the door. When Nick swung the door wide, she stumbled slightly, and he reached his arm to her shoulder to steady her. "Nick!" Jessica exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're here, my key doesn't fit anymore, look!" Jess bent over the lock again to show Nick.

"Jess, it doesn't fit because you're trying to get in with your car key," Nick explained, taking the keys from her hand and wrapping his arm around her waist to support her. "C'mon, lets get you to bed." Nick knew there was no point in getting mad at her, she was wasted, and anything he said now would be lost on her by sunrise.

Jessica allowed Nick to guide her to her bedroom, giggling slightly at her mistake with the keys. "Why would they make keys look so similar, thats just confusing," she said as Nick led her to the bedroom across from his. Nick sat her gently on the side of her bed and then turned on her bedside lamp, flooding the room with light. Jessica squinted as the light came on, and watched as Nick walked back over to her and bent in front of her.

"What happened Jess?" Nick asked as he sat kneeled in front of her, his hands went to her feet to begin removing her boots.

Jessica put her hands on his shoulders while he worked on her boots to keep from falling backwards. "I was at this club, and there was this guy who wanted to buy me a drink, so I let him, and then we danced, and then we had another drink, and then we kissed, and then we had another drink, and then we got into a fight, and then I came here." Jessica rambled groggily to Nick as he removed her first boot. Nick could feel the heat in his chest rise as she told him what happened, obviously some douche bag had tried to take advantage of her.

"Jessica, you can't do that! Do you know how dangerous that is? You can't just let some stranger buy you drinks all night, you're lucky you were able to ditch him," Nick shook his head trying to keep his temper in check as he went to work on the other boot.

Jessica, despite the alcohol running through her bloodstream, did not miss the tone he was using with her, and immediately became defensive. "I'm not an idiot Nick. I know what he wanted. And you know what, maybe I wanted to too! You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do, you're not my boyfriend anymore." Jessica retorted angrily, still clutching his shoulder for balance.

Nick looked up into her eyes, he didn't know what to say. She was right, he wasn't her boyfriend anymore, and hadn't been for over seven months. His girlfriend was across the hallway, asleep in his bed. As mad as he was at Jess, she was absolutely right, he had no place to tell her what she could and couldn't do. But somehow, knowing this, and knowing that he couldn't stop her from putting herself into potentially dangerous situations, made him even more angry. He pulled the boot from her foot, and stood up slowly, allowing her to remove her hands from his shoulders, "you're right Jessica, I'm not your boyfriend anymore," he said evenly, looking down into her eyes. He dropped the boot next to the other one, and walked from her room back to his without another word.


	2. Chapter 2

Jessica closed her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from coming. She stumbled slowly to her door to close it, and then quietly collapsed back on to her bed. She replayed the night's events in her head, the club music still pounding in her ears. She tried to shut it out, squeezing her eyes closed even tighter. She felt like she was on a boat, her bed slowly rocking beneath her. Nick's face swam through the blackness of her mind, she tried to block him out, but it was impossible. Jess prepared herself for a long night.

Across the hall Nick knew that he might as well give up all hope of falling back asleep. His girlfriend, Lacey, turned over slightly as he settled back into bed, mumbling quietly while wrapping herself around him, "Where'd you go babe?"

"Nowhere, go back to sleep," he said softly, running his hand through her hair. She mumbled incoherently in response, not needing much convincing as she fell easily back asleep. Nick closed his eyes and sighed, trying to make sense of the thoughts bouncing off the walls of his head. Jessica's voice echoing through his ears, "you're not my boyfriend anymore." Nick allowed his mind to slip back, back to the final days of his relationship with Jessica Day. He knew it was pointless, he knew he would never make sense of it all, and he knew that it didn't matter, but his mind was relentless, and his memories began replaying like a DVD anyway, not knowing that across the hall Jess was replaying her own memories of the end.

**7 Months Ago**

_Nick walked quietly through the front door of the loft, and made his way silently to his girlfriend's bedroom. It was 3am and he had just finished a double shift at the bar, and there was no doubt in his mind that he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He glanced over at his own bedroom on the opposite side of the hall as he reached for Jess' door knob, wondering if he shouldn't just go to sleep in his own bed instead of risking waking her up. _

_Things between them had been strained lately and he wasn't sure why. He had been working a lot more than usual, and he feared that she was becoming bored. He had tried to talk to her about it, but he wasn't so good at telling people how he felt, and every time he tried to bring it up, she assured him that she was fine. _

_The truth was that he was in the process of trying to buy the bar from Shane's father, Carl. He hadn't told anyone, including Jess, because he wasn't sure if it was all going to work, and he was already notorious for not following through on things. Carl traveled a lot, having business' all over, so most of the negotiation was between him and Shane, which was beyond awkward, but Nick was trying his damndest to make it work. Shane was actually being relatively reasonable with Nick, as she knew that her father wanted to dump the bar as easily as possible, and he had taken a liking to Nick over the years, of course being unaware that he had slept with his daughter briefly. After punching some numbers, Nick and Shane had finally found a way to make it work for Nick despite the $30,000 price tag. By increasing his shifts at the bar by 30 hours a week, and giving all of his wages, not including tips, back to Shane and Carl, he would be able to pay $15,000 in six months. At that point Carl would sign ownership over to Nick, and the remaining $15,000 would be paid back to Carl in installments, as both Carl and Nick knew that he would never be approved for a loan with his ridiculously bad credit. Nick knew that as soon as he had ownership, the monthly profit from the bar would be more than enough to support him and cover his payments back to Carl, and as long as everything went according to plan, Nick would be debt free in less than a year. Not only that, but Nick was confident that once he took ownership, that he would be able to substantially increase profits. The problem with the bar now was that Carl and Shane didn't really care, but Nick knew that with some hard work he could really turn the place around. _

_He quietly walked into Jess' room, doing his best to keep from waking her as he settled into his spot next to her. She didn't stir, and her breathing remained even as he leaned over and softly kissed her on the forehead. He quickly fell into an easy sleep by her side, not knowing that she had only been pretending to be asleep. _

_Jessica sighed quietly, listening to the sound of Nick snoring softly. She rolled over and looked at him, wondering if she would be able to go through with everything. She knew that she had to, she was falling too hard already, and they hadn't been together for even six months. Her mind was set, she had to break up with Nick. _

_As she watched him sleep she thought of all the things that had brought her to this. She replayed the conversation they had had months earlier in an air vent. "Tell me there isn't a small part of you that's scared that I'm too much of a mess...". Nick had been right, from the very beginning. He had even tried to give her an out by "calling it", but Jess had gone against reason, and chosen to go all in with him anyway. Now here she was, almost six months later, lying in bed with a man that she had no doubt fallen in love with, that would never feel the same way for her. Tears started falling silently as she reminded herself of all the reasons why she knew she was doing the right thing. Nick was a passionate guy, but he was completely unreasonable. The things he was passionate about were completely ridiculous and accomplished no purpose. Growing tomato plants, writing zombie novels, trying to prove his manliness by having Thanksgiving in the woods. The fact was that Nick would never grow up. She had hoped against hope that he would grow to love her as much as she loved him. But she doubted his focus, and it was becoming increasingly clear that Nick did not love Jessica the way that she loved him. She had thought that maybe, there had been times when he looked at her, she thought for sure that he loved her. But she knew now that it wasn't true. _

_She hadn't questioned at first why Nick had begun to spend so much time at the bar, she had taken him at his word that he had just began picking up extra shifts. But the conversation she had overheard the other night had left no doubt in her mind. She had thought it would be nice to surprise Nick at the bar, since he had been working so hard lately. When she found her best friend CeCe behind the bar and Nick nowhere in sight she wandered quietly to the back office where he sometimes could be found balancing a drawer or filling out inventory logs. The door was slightly ajar, and she could hear Nick's voice laughing softly. Jessica smiled at the sound of it, but stopped quickly in her tracks when she heard a woman's soft giggle accompany it. Jessica frowned slightly, and took a few steps closer, trying to figure out who could be making Nick laugh like that, and felt her heart sink when she saw Shane's slender figure through the crack of the office door. Both of them had their backs to the door, they were sitting on the office desk, drinks in hand. Jessica stopped herself from letting her imagination run away with her, and took another step closer so she could make her presence known, but she stopped as she began to catch their conversation. _

_"Well, congratulations, I knew we could find a way to make this work," Shane said softly clinking her beer against Nicks._

_"I gotta tell ya, this has been one of the scariest things I've ever done, but I'm glad we found a way to make it work too," Nick replied, pulling his beer back to take a drink. _

_"Well, to be honest with you, I didn't think you had the balls to go through with it, but you surprised me Nick Miller." Shane said, a smile playing at her lips. _

_Nick would normally tell Shane to eat it, but as he had just signed an agreement that indebted himself to her and her father for at least the next six months, Nick thought better of it. "Well, I guess I'm full of surprises," he said instead, rolling his eyes to himself. _

_"So how are you going to explain all the extra time you'll be spending here?" Shane asked, taking another sip of her drink. Nick had made it clear that he didn't want Shane mentioning him trying to purchase the bar to any of his friends that were in there all the time, or especially CeCe now that she worked there._

_Nick shrugged, "I dunno, I guess I doubt anyone will really notice," Nick said honestly._

_"Oh yeah, what about your girlfriend?" Shane said slyly, gently bumping her elbow into Nick's side._

_Nick could tell that the alcohol was starting to get to Shane, as she was becoming extra playful. He remembered that this was how they had ended up sleeping together months before. He wasn't worried about that now, but he knew he was going to have to get back out to the bar soon to get away from her. "You know what, what I tell my girlfriend has got absolutely nothing to do with what we have going on here, so don't worry about it." Nick said, jumping off the desk. "C'mon, I've left CeCe alone at the bar long enough." Nick said extending a hand to Shane to help her down off the desk. _

_Jess ducked quickly out of sight, her hands shaking as she quietly edged her way to the back door. When she finally found fresh air she let the tears fall freely. It couldn't be true, she thought as she shook her head, her hands coming up to cover her eyes. She stayed in that ally for another twenty minutes, sobbing quietly, before she finally resigned herself back to the loft. _

_That had been weeks ago, and in the days that had passed Jessica had tried to think of every possible explanation for the conversation she had overheard between Shane and Nick. But there was nothing, nothing except for the obvious of course, that Nick was having an affair. She tried to tell herself that she would have known if Nick was cheating on her, but she remembered Spencer, and how she had missed all the signs with him as well. She wanted to be mad, she wanted to be furious, but she just wasn't. Brokenhearted, depressed, shocked, all of these things summed up how Jess felt, but she just couldn't bring herself to anger. Nick had warned her, he had given her an out before they even started, but she fell for him anyway. She couldn't bring herself now, to put blame on the man she loved, knowing from the beginning how damaged he really was. But she couldn't ignore it either, she had to let him go, before she got to the point in their relationship where she wouldn't be able to walk away at all. _

_Jess watched Nick sleep till dawn, reminding herself of all the reasons why they couldn't be together. She got up slowly, took a shower, made herself breakfast, and waited for Nick to wake up. She saw him as she was finishing her cereal slowly make his way out of her bedroom. _

_"Hey," he greeted sleepily, "I didn't hear ya get up this morning." He walked around to the stool she sat on, placing a quick kiss on the side of her head. Both Coach and Winston had already left the apartment, she had asked them the night before to give her and Nick some privacy that morning. They probably thought that Nick was in for a treat, if only they had known, they might have warned him. _

_"Nick, we need to talk," Jessica started as Nick sat down at the kitchen table with his bagel._

_Nick looked up slowly, and for the first time that morning became aware of how tired Jess really looked. This was it, this was what he had been waiting for from the beginning. He didn't say anything, he just kept staring at her, waiting for it to come. And then it did._

_"I think we should break up."_


	3. Chapter 3

_"Nick, we need to talk," Jessica started as Nick sat down at the kitchen table with his bagel._

_Nick looked up slowly, and for the first time that morning became aware of how tired Jess really looked. This was it, this was what he had been waiting for from the beginning. He didn't say anything, he just kept staring at her, waiting for it to come. And then it did._

_"I think we should break up." Jess said as bravely as she could, not breaking eye contact, refusing to let her emotions get the best of her. _

_Nick stood up from his seat, gripping the kitchen table in front of him as he started to plead his case. "Jess, listen, I don't know what's been going on lately, but whatever it is, we can fix it. Okay? I mean, I know I've been working a lot, but -"_

_"No, Nick, its not that," Jessica started. _

_"Well then what is it? I mean whatever it is, whatever you want, I'll do it. I mean this is us, all in, remember?" Nick said walking over to her, while taking her hands in his. _

_Jess swallowed back a silent sob as she struggled to continue, she couldn't look at him anymore, so instead she opted for her feet as she continued. "Nick, its not anything you can fix, its nothing that you did. I just...I don't have feelings for you anymore." She was almost whispering, but she knew he could hear her. _

_Nick was silent for several moments. She didn't have feelings for him anymore? His throat started to unexpectedly constrict as he struggled for some words that could make her change her mind. But he knew that none would come. If she didn't have feelings for him, then there was nothing left to say. This explained why she had been acting so strange lately...he wondered how long she had known. He slowly let go of her hands, and looked down as she pulled them back by her side._

_When Jess had decided that she had no choice but to end it with Nick, she decided that it would at least be on her terms, that she would do it with her pride intact. She wouldn't bring up Shane, she wouldn't turn it into a fight, and she would even try to salvage their friendship for the sake of the other roommates. Jessica gathered what was left of her courage as she felt Nick begin to realize the weight of her words. "I still care about you, I just can't pretend that I have romantic feelings for you when I don't."_

_Nick nodded his head slowly, he knew he couldn't take much more. If this was it, then this was it, he wouldn't make her drag it out. He looked up quickly, and choked on his next words but got them out anyway, "thanks for your honesty, I appreciate it." He then leaned in quickly, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and turned on his heel to disappear into his bedroom. _

_Jess stood in the kitchen by herself for a few minutes before quickly grabbing her purse and fleeing from the apartment. She didn't have anywhere to go, but she knew she couldn't stay. It was over, officially, and she wouldn't let him hear her break down._

The break up was not nearly as bad as any of their friends had anticipated. Certainly Winston, Coach, and Schmidt expected a complete Nick meltdown, beard and all, but it never came. Nick certainly became more secluded, retreating to his room more often when he was home, but he was home so rarely to begin with that his lack of presence became pretty normal. They checked for weird smells coming from his room, but to all of their surprise, Nick continued showering daily, and as far as they could tell, his personal hygiene had actually improved since the breakup. Winston, Coach, and Schmidt were also completely prepared for Jessica, having hid all of the copies of Dirty Dancing, both DVD, VHS, and Soundtrack, in the loft. But she never even looked for them. Coach purchased a bulk amount of tissue, placing a box on almost every surface in the loft, but only Winston was using them as his spring hay fever was starting to settle in. Even CeCe struggled to make sense of Nick and Jess' behavior. She tried to talk to Jessica about it, but all she would say was that it just wasn't meant to be, and that she had to end it before it got too serious. CeCe even tried to confront Nick about it while they were at the bar, point blank asking him if they had had a fight or if he had done something stupid. He immediately pulled a turtle face and for a minute CeCe thought that Nick was going to yell at her. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders and said that her guess was as good as his before returning to mopping the empty bar. It was no use, neither Nick or Jess would talk to their friends about the break up and there was seemingly no reason as to why two people who had a history of torturing themselves and everyone else around them during a breakup were behaving so...nonchalantly about the whole deal.

The truth was that both Nick and Jessica were playing a silent game of tennis with each other, the constant volley was a testament to their fierce stubbornness. Jessica wouldn't let Nick see how much her heart felt like it had dropped out of her chest. She was, after all, the one who called off the relationship. Surely Nick would see right through her "I don't have feelings for you anymore," if she was moping around the loft watching Dirty Dancing endlessly. She wouldn't be the victim again, not after Spencer. So she walked around with her head held high, even though she felt like she could barely lift her own feet. Nick was more or less in a similar boat. Jessica had made it pretty clear how she felt, the full weight of this truth felt like an unmovable boulder he carried on his chest. As far as Nick could see, there was nothing he could do, and the idea of letting Jess see how destroyed he was felt like it would make everything that much more real. Somehow he just knew, if she saw him breakdown and curl up into the fetal position that his body ached to revert back to, he might not get back up. So Nick dug deep, and kept moving. He used the bar as a most welcome crutch, relieved to have something to put all his focus into. When he did see Jess around the loft, he smiled politely and did his best to pretend like he was breathing. He was even able, with the assistance of several glasses of Johnny Walker, to go to her room one night and ask for some of his CDs he had left in there. She had seemed surprised, like maybe she expected him to say something else, but she quickly obliged and grabbed the discs from the stand by her CD player and brought them back to him with a smile on her face. He smiled back, thanked her, and went back to his room, quickly pouring himself another three fingers and collapsing onto his bed as though he had run a marathon. Nick didn't know, but Jessica sobbed quietly into her pillow that night before silently succumbing to sleep.

Soon several months had passed. The air was still thick with tension, but the uneasiness around the loft began to lift. They both attended Schmidt's birthday party in 4C and were even able to hold an awkward conversation while refilling their drinks in the kitchen. They began hanging out in the communal areas of the loft again, much to Winston and Coach's relief, and even though they rarely spoke together directly, group conversations involving both of them became regular happenings. The group was relieved that things were becoming easy again, Nick and Jess were relieved that they were buying it. That's when it happened. Nick had been waiting for it, but simultaneously praying that it would never come. They were all at the bar, CeCe and Nick were both working as it was a fairly busy Thursday night. Jess was there with some of the other teachers from her school, they were all off the next day because of some kind of bank holiday that Nick had been previously unaware of. Schmidt, Winston, and Coach were all there too, which was a rarity these days with all of their schedules varying as much as they did. Winston had just finished the Police Academy and was officially one of LA's finest, the downfall being that he had yet to establish a set schedule. Schmidt usually found himself at the bar whenever CeCe was working, still trying to work his way back into her good graces. As for Coach, most of his schedule revolved around his client's availability, which meant there was usually little time left for his friends. Nick smiled to himself while he poured another glass of Jack for a customer, watching all of his friends laughing at some joke he had missed. Even though he felt as though he was in two pieces most of the time, he was comforted knowing that he was able to keep the people in his life that he cared about most.

Nick spotted Jess on the other side of the bar with an empty glass, waiting patiently for CeCe to finish what she was doing so that she could refill it. Nick walked over slowly and grabbed the glass by the stem. "You ready?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even so she wouldn't hear the nerves behind it.

"Oh, um, I can wait until CeCe's done if you're busy," Jess said while looking down at the bar, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm not, it's not a big deal," Nick replied while reaching for the bottle of wine in the cooler below.

"How do you know what I'm drinking?" Jess asked, honestly curious as she watched him refill her glass with ease.

Nick raised his eyebrow at her, pulling the bottle back to his chest and replacing the cork. "Really, Jess? After all of this time, I think I know what you drink," he said, laughing slightly.

"Oh, right." Jess replied feeling stupid, she looked down again, trying to hide the blush that she was sure was creeping up her face.

Nick watched her quietly, searching for the courage to tell her that she shouldn't try to hide her blush, that it was one of his favorite things about her, when a man Nick had never seen sat down next to Jess, placed an arm easily around her shoulder, and leaned in quickly to kiss her on the cheek.

"Sorry I'm late, it took me forever to get out of the office today," said the stranger. The man eyed Jessica and Nick, both of them awkwardly quiet. "Hey, can I get a White Russian?" the stranger asked Nick, breaking the silence.

Nick stared at the man's arm around Jess, realizing who he must be. He didn't know Jess had started seeing someone, but of course he had known it was coming. He heard the request for a drink, and broke himself out of the daze he had fallen into. "Uh, yeah, White Russian, sure," Nick replied hastily. Nick mixed the drink quickly and passed it to the man, who's arm was still draped casually around his ex-girlfriend.

"Nick, this is Trevor, Trevor, this is my roommate Nick," Jessica introduced, finally finding her voice. She watched as Trevor leaned across the bar, smiling politely, to shake Nick's hand. Nick obliged him, but then quickly turned to find another customer on the opposite side of the bar.

"That was weird, did I interrupt something?" Trevor asked, eyeing Jessica.

"What, no," Jessica laughed, trying to find her normal voice, "he was just grabbing me another drink," she explained honestly.

"Yeah, no, he just looked kind of, I don't know, irritated I guess." Trevor explained.

"Oh, well, Nick is regularly irritated," Jessica laughed. Trevor nodded his head in acceptance and Jessica led him over to the table of teachers.

CeCe had been watching from her peripherals as the whole uncomfortable exchange had taken place. She approached Nick carefully, "hey, are you okay?" she asked as she watched him pour a quick shot of Captain, not surprised to see him throw it back himself instead of handing it off to one of the customers in front of him.

Nick looked over quickly, not aware that CeCe had been standing next to him. "Who, me? Yeah, I'm great, why wouldn't I be?" Nick asked as he poured another shot for himself, "want one?" he offered, reaching for another shot glass.

"Sure," CeCe nodded, trying to gauge Nick's mood. They clinked their glasses quickly, tilting the warm liquid into their mouths. "I see you've met Trevor," CeCe started, taking Nick's empty glass from him before he could pour another one.

"Oh, yeah," Nick said, glancing over at Jessica, Trevor's arm still draped around her shoulder as they laughed at something one of her co-workers had said. "When did they, I mean, are they a, or you know," Nick stumbled, trying to find the right words that would say, 'who the hell is this guy, but you know, I don't really care.'

"Jess has only been out with him a couple of times, he's the dad of one of her students." CeCe explained.

Nick nodded his head slowly, listening to CeCe. He gripped the side of the bar with both hands and put his head down. So this was it. This was how it would be now. He would have to watch her get ready for dates, bring different guys home, and eventually, he'd have to watch her spend the rest of her life with someone else. Nick knew that it had been coming, but now that it was here he knew that he wasn't ready. He breathed slowly, painfully aware that CeCe was still watching him. It was taking all of his strength to hold himself together. He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up he saw CeCe's eyes, filled with pity. That was what pushed him forward in that moment. He squinted his eyes close one last time to push back the wave of defeat that was threatening, took a deep breath, and walked up to a customer waiting at the bar. The rest of the night seemed to drag on for Nick. He tried his best to keep himself busy, to keep himself from looking over at her, with him. As his friends slowly filed out of the bar at the end of last call Nick said his goodbyes dutifully, glad for the night to finally be over. He didn't miss the look that Jess gave him over her shoulder as she walked out, Trevor's arm had now moved down to her waist, holding her to him as they left together. With the bar now empty, CeCe and Nick began cleaning up in silence.

CeCe watched Nick collect the empty glasses from the tables, bring them back to the bar, and then go to collect more. He wiped the tables stoically, and it was clear to her that he did not want to talk about the night's events. She contemplated letting it go, she was Jess' friend after all. But there was something about the look on his face after he saw Jess with Trevor, CeCe knew that look, she had felt the pain behind that look. When Nick had finished cleaning the tables he came back behind the bar to help finish wiping down the glasses and bottles. CeCe set down the bottle of Stoli she was wiping down, and began to approach Nick.

Before Nick could stop her, CeCe had Nick in a full embrace. Nick was caught off guard, and for a second he tried to resist, but CeCe just tightened her arms around him. He slowly lifted his arms, and wrapped them around her back in return, and before he knew what he was doing, he had placed his head on her shoulder and began to cry. Crying wasn't really a fair description of what he was doing, though. It was more a full on sob, like the way a small child does when they've lost their favorite stuffed animal. Now that he was doing it, Nick realized that he hadn't really cried since Jessica had ended things with him. There had been tears, but he hadn't really allowed himself a full good cry. He couldn't at the loft, he was constantly surrounded by his roommates, Jess being one of them. And when he wasn't at the loft, he was here, at the bar, and no one wants their bartender sobbing into their martini. Nick realized that he had been so busy trying to keep himself busy, that he had not really allowed himself a second to grieve, and now that he was, it was hitting him like a sack of bricks. He felt CeCe begin to release him, so he hesitantly let go and brought his hands to his eyes.

CeCe wasn't sure what she expected when she went to hug Nick, but this certainly wasn't it. As she pulled back from their embrace she brought her hands to his shoulders. "Nick, just tell me, what happened with you guys?" CeCe asked, hoping to finally get an answer.

"C'mon CeCe, I'm sure you know better than I do why Jess broke up with me," Nick said, his palms still furiously rubbing his bleary eyes, his voice still cracking with emotion.

"Nick, I can tell you with a hundred percent honesty, that Jess will not talk to me about her break up with you," CeCe started, removing her arms from Nick's shoulders and swinging her body up to sit on the bar. "And believe me, I've tried. I mean, I think this is the first time, like ever, that she hasn't told me every little detail about something like this. She just clams up every time I even bring it up." CeCe explained.

Nick was finally starting to get his breathing back in check as he listened to CeCe. He was surprised to hear that Jess had not confided the details of their break up to her, she was after all, Jess' best friend. "I don't know CeCe. Things were weird for a couple of weeks. It's not like we had a fight or anything, it was just like all of a sudden someone built a wall between us. And then I woke up one morning, came out for breakfast, and it was over. She said she just didn't have feelings for me anymore, and that was that." Nick recounted to CeCe what he had been reliving in his head every night.

CeCe listened to Nick in silence. She had been trying to get this story out of Jess for months, but now that she was hearing it, she was even more confused than before. It didn't make any sense, CeCe knew that Jess had been crazy about Nick, so to hear that she pulled the 'I don't have feelings for you anymore' card just didn't add up for her. Something just wasn't right. CeCe resigned to shaking her head, she looked up at Nick and offered him all she had, "I'm sorry Nick, I know how much you care about Jess, so I know how hard this must be for you."

Nick nodded his head again, "thanks, CeCe." It wasn't much, certainly not what he wanted, but Nick took the gesture of comfort being offered with appreciation. He would never say it out loud, but it was a relief to have finally talked about it with someone. "C'mon, lets finish cleaning this place up so you can get out of here."

CeCe jumped off the counter and went to grab the bottle she had been wiping when she looked back at Nick curiously. "What do you mean, 'get me out of here'? Aren't you going home?" she asked curiously.

Nick let out a derisive laugh, "Seriously? You think I can go back to the loft knowing that the two of them might be there? No thanks, I'll stay here tonight, I have to be back in the morning to open anyway." Nick explained, grabbing a tray of glasses from the sink to begin drying.

"Won't Shane get pissed if she finds out you're sleeping in the bar?" asked CeCe. She didn't know Shane that well, but it seemed like the kind of thing that might set her off.

"Well, Shane doesn't really get a say anymore in how I do things around here," Nick started, deciding that he might as well let CeCe know, she did work there after all.

"What do you mean?" asked CeCe.

"I'm buying the bar," Nick said, setting down the glass to look at CeCe, waiting for her reaction.

CeCe wasn't sure what she was expecting Nick to say, but it definitely was not that. "What?! Are you serious?" She asked, taking a step forward to hug Nick again.

Nick put his hands up this time, "Seriously CeCe, I can only take one hug a night," he said with a small but playful groan.

CeCe laughed and instead extended her arm for a handshake. Nick returned the shake while rolling his eyes and turned to pick up another glass to dry. "So when did all this happen, why haven't you said anything about it?" CeCe asked, also returning to her side work.

"Well, its not official yet," Nick explained. "I won't bore ya with all the details, but I still have about 3 months left before the place is in my name, and even then I'm still gonna be in the hole with Carl and Shane. But I'm hoping that if things go right, this place will be completely mine by the start of next year."

"That's really great Nick," CeCe said with a smile, "you should be really proud of yourself. What made you decide to do it?" CeCe asked, wondering what had happened to the Nick Miller she used to know.

"Honestly," Nick began with a ironic smile playing at his lips, "I did it because of Jess. I mean, I did it because I wanted to, but I wanted to because of Jess. I don't know, being with her, it just made me want to be better, it made me want to do better. Shane and Carl and I, we all started negotiating this whole thing months before Jess broke up with me. After she ended it, I guess I decided to keep going with it because I realized how badly I wanted it for myself, how much I really needed this for myself. If that makes any sense," Nick shrugged, knowing that he was babbling.

"No, it does make sense," CeCe reassured him shaking her head. Who knew that Nick Miller was capable of such big changes on his own. The Nick Miller she had met years ago didn't even like to buy new shoes because he hated change so much. Now here he was, buying a business on his own.

"Do me a favor though, and don't tell anyone, especially Jess. I mean, I know she's your best friend and everything, but, I don't know, I guess I don't want anyone making a big deal out of it." Nick said, shrugging his shoulders. He hadn't really thought about how he would tell his friends yet, he figured he'd wait till it was at least in his name and then go from there.

"Well, it is a big deal," CeCe said, not wanting Nick to downplay this huge accomplishment, "but I promise, your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks, CeCe," Nick said appreciatively. "Listen, go ahead and get out of here. I can finish the rest of this up, there's not much left."

"Are you sure?" CeCe asked apprehensively.

"Positive," replied Nick, "In fact, now that I'm your boss, I'm not giving you a choice, you have 5 minutes to get your crap and get out of here or I'm gonna fire ya," Nick said, trying his best to sound authoritative.

CeCe laughed, "Okay, thanks Nick, try to get some sleep tonight," she said while reaching for her purse under the counter. She offered one last wave as she walked towards the front doors and let herself out into the cool LA night air.


End file.
